There are 2 stars a plenty in Socal, not to mention a multitude of 3 stars. A 2 star anywhere would be hard pressed to use that as significant weight in admissions. I have a feeling that 4 stars is the bare minimum to generate enough pull (academics aside) for entrance into a top Ivy League institution, MIT, or something similar.

A 2 star player will not be recruited to Ivy. But a 2 or 3 star with outstanding academic credential may still be admitted as a walk on to help meet school's Academic Index requirement. You can easily find a few 2 or 3 star players from team websites who rarely play any matches.

However, a good 2 or 3 star may be recruited to a mid-level D3 team, like MIT, which is ranked #8 in Northeast Region. A 4 star can play top 3 singles for Engineers. Coach may let a 2 star with good doubles skills to play doubles. In D3, a win in doubles counts as much as a win in singles. In a top 10 nationally ranked D3 team like Johns Hopkins (#7), a 4 star may be sitting on the bench.